Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr urged Iraq's "dictatorial" interim government to resign and said he and his militia would remain in Najaf until death or victory, his spokesman said.
| I'd hold out for death, myself... |
The spokesman quoted al-Sadr as telling supporters at Imam Ali Mosque on Friday: "I advise the dictatorial, agent government to resign...the whole Iraqi people demands the resignation of the government... they replaced Saddam with a government worse than him."
| Tater's Mom and Dad were close relatives, weren't they? That's the only thing that explains his mental processes. Unless they dropped him on his head when he was a tad... |
Earlier, al-Sadr laid down a list of conditions for an end to clashes between his Mahdi Army and US-led occupation forces, according to a spokesman. Shaikh Ali Sumaisim spelled out the conditions - notably for the withdrawal of the US-led forces and the handover of Najaf to the Marjaia, the Shia religious authority - during a news conference at a hotel in the besieged city in central Iraq. If all multinational forces, Iraqi police and soldiers leave Najaf and the Marjaia agrees to take responsibility for the city, "the Mahdi Army would pull out from Najaf", Sumaisim said, while stressing the militia would not disarm.
| "Nope. We'll just move on to the next holy place..." |
All basic services must be restored in Najaf, and al-Sadr's Mahdi Army should be recognised as an ideological movement with its members allowed to carry weapons for self-defence, Sumaisim continued. Those jailed for supporting the resistance against the US-led occupation, all imprisoned clerics and other women must also be released, the spokesman added. Resistance fighters must no longer be persecuted and al-Sadr's organisation should be allowed to decide for itself whether it becomes a political movement, under the conditions. "All followers of al-Sadr's movement should be under a legitimate constitution written by a free, elected government," Sumaisim said. "Lastly, all efforts should be aimed at building a free, independent, unified Iraq," he added. |